Jason Siegel, Author at Bluetext

Google’s new Hummingbird search engine algorithm is sending shock waves throughout the digital marketing arena. What it means, and how marketers need to adjust their SEO thinking will be on the to-do list for the foreseeable future.

When Google released its latest changes this fall, it used a very clever strategy that took almost everyone involved in SEO by surprise. First, it ran the new algorithm for 30 days before telling anyone. No big announcement, no public launch, just a quiet change. Then it held a press conference to discuss what was quickly recognized as its most significant revision in more than a dozen years. And with a full 30 days’ worth of data under its belt, Google was able to say that the world had not ended by its revision. Not only did the industry feel no seismic disruptions, but by most accounts no one had even noticed.

Hummingbird is a massive change in the way in which the Google search engine returns search results, and it has major implications for the way that companies and organizations need to approach SEO.

First, a little search engine background. Search has always been a game of cat-and-mouse. The marketer’s goal is to use links, key words, and other tactics to ensure that their website comes up high during relevant searches. Google’s interest is in having the most relevant results that don’t favor a site just because it has tricked the search engine. So, for example, when inbound links were weighed heavily, tacticians could create “link farms” that gave the impression of links that weren’t real. When Google altered the algorithm to degrade unimportant links, new tricks were developed that included keyword stuffing, or the heavy use of searched terms throughout the site. Google responded by setting parameters on how many words could be used in a given paragraph. The back-and-forth continued.

Hummingbird marks a steep departure from this word-based game. It focuses on context and what are known as “long-tail” queries to deliver results that are more specific to the needs of an evolving Internet where mobile devices and voice commands are replacing simple word searches. Hummingbird is supposed to reflect that context when, to use an obvious example, we search for Chinese restaurants. What earlier search engines would deliver was a list of restaurants. But what we really want to learn is a good place to eat that is nearby. The intent of Hummingbird is to understand that context and deliver recommendations of good restaurants in our area. Remember that what is a “good” place to eat is a subjective notion and will become very important in how marketers will need to structure their SEO strategy going forward.

That context gets more difficult as people speak their questions rather than type. So for example, while a typed query might read, “nearby Chinese restaurant,” a spoken query might say “What’s the best place to get Chinese near my home.” Google needs to recognize the actual location of your home, understand that ‘place’ means you want a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and get that “Chinese” is a particular type of restaurant. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words.

Google has reoriented its search algorithm in three very important ways in Hummingbird, and two of those changes have to do with what it determines is “good.”

The first is that Google now rewards good content. That means that long, detailed and well-sourced articles are going to get better results than mere word mentions on a page. Do a search on “slavery” and you will find long articles from The New York Times as well as The Smithsonian magazine. Search for “best rain jackets” and you will get reviews from publications and “How to choose” articles from within the REI site, instead of links directly to items for sale.

The second is that Google is putting links to what it considers to be good content directly on the results page, and is including related articles and other information that it didn’t previously deliver. From a consumer’s point of view, this turns the search results page into a sort of encyclopedia with snippets of content pulled from others’ sites. From a marketers perspective, it could mean that viewers will see information from your site, but not need to click onto your site to get it. Skeptics have theorized that Google is actually trying to keep you on their page as long as possible in order to run more ads and realize more revenues. Whatever the motive, getting someone to leave the search page for your website is more challenging.

The third is that social media, and in particular Google+, will become a larger part of the search engine equation. Google’s goal is to tap into your network of friends to give you additional insight on your query. Go back to the question about a good nearby Chinese restaurant. If Google sees that friends within your Google+ circles like a particular restaurant, that might be included in the search results.

This is a lot to think about, and requires a different mindset when executing your SEO strategy. If this is starting to make your head spin, join the club. Much of what has been written about Hummingbird so far is difficult for anyone not steeped in algorithm technology to understand. So with that in mind…

Download our top 10 recommendations on how to build a successful search strategy with Hummingbird here: www.bluetext.com/hummingbird

Bluetext recently released a series of surveys of voters in California and Texas, and government IT professionals about technology and cloud computing. As part of our media outreach, I was interviewed by the Capital Weekly newspaper in Sacramento. Here are some of the key points I made:

To read the full surveys, click here. If you want to discuss the surveys, ping me, and I would be more than happy to walk you through them.

Sometimes, familiarity does not breed contempt. To the contrary, according to a new survey from Bluetext, the more familiar government IT managers and influencers are with cloud computing, the more they support cloud initiatives.

The survey found that 7 in 10 of those most familiar with the cloud have considered using it. The vast majority of those in the know understand that the cloud is not only a solution to IT hurdles, it’s also a means to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and save taxpayers money.

In state and local government agencies across the country, to know the cloud is to embrace it.

At the same time, those polled believe that their political leaders are under-informed about cloud computing. The vast majority of IT influencers believe their bosses would support cloud initiatives if they knew more about its benefits.

• Seven in 10 of those very familiar with the cloud believe that cloud data centers would bring immediate cost savings to their agency.

• Nearly all polled (91%) would be interested in cloud data centers if they knew immediate costs savings could be had.

• Among those less familiar with the cloud, many are struggling to understand the benefits (35%) or how to get started (46%).

• Just 43% of those less familiar with the cloud say they have considered using it to save money and improve efficiencies.

• A majority of IT influencers (57%) say the political leadership of their government has the cloud on their radar to some degree, but just 17% say they are getting a lot of support from agency executives for IT cost-cutting initiatives.

The survey, conducted online by Fabrizio, Ward & Associates, interviewed 150 state and local government IT influencers nationally from August 15-16, 2011.

Communications agencies often hype the endless ways to measure social media. The problem is, while some of these ways are useful, most are confusing and noisy. Confidently measuring the impact of your online conversations has been elusive.

That’s why Bluetext, together with our partners at General Sentiment, is launching SocialRank, a tool for brands to see how their company compares to others in the social media sphere. What’s different about SocialRank?

1. It takes an instant snapshot of chatter about your brand across the Internet.

3. It compares your data to those for well-known brands, including Apple, Microsoft, McDonalds, Android, and the Obama White House.

1. Social media offers not only an important way to see how your company is perceived among key audiences; it is also an early warning system for market, service, and competitive challenges.

2. We think that how people talk about your brand is often more important than how much they are talking about it. Measuring that sentiment—be it positive, neutral, or negative—lets executives know whether they are on track with their marketing and branding efforts, or if they have a problem they need to address.

3. You can use SocialRank to plug in your competitors to see what you’re up against.

But SocialRank is only a start to understanding your reputation across social media. Bluetext can help any company fully analyze its reputation across the Internet—whether your brand is ahead of the competition or losing ground, whether your messages are resonating with key audiences or falling flat, and whether you have vocal advocates or persistent critics. Armed with those results, we can design and implement a social media program that reinforces your positive values, while navigating the waters of critics and competitors.

So give SocialRank a try, and then give Bluetext a call to see what we can do for your brand.

Bluetext is pleased to announce that on July 25, its client Acentia launched with a new brand identity and website to better represent its mission supporting customers on programs of National Significance. Over the past three months Bluetext worked with the Acentia management team, employees and customers to overhaul its messaging, create its brand, design and develop a new website, and re-launch the company to the public. On July 22 Acentia brought all of its employees to Nationals Park to unveil the brand for the first time. The launch was covered in the Washington Post and Washington Business Journal, and represents the type of fully-integrated campaign that Bluetext can deliver for clients. Be on the lookout for their new advertising campaign in the coming months.

Bluetext completely rebranded ITSolutions to Acentia. Including name, logo, tagline, visual identity system, messaging platform, brand positioning, website, collateral system, public relations and social media.

Bluetext launched Acentia at Nationals Park followed by major Washington media coverage.

Bluetext produced a family of thought leadership videos to communicate sector focus inside Acentia.

The Google +1 strategy will make the search optimization maze even more complicated. The +1 will be integrated into everything today’s progressive marketer needs to drive brand recall and market leadership through integrated digital marketing and communications programs.

You may be aware of the Open Graph Protocol introduced by Facebook. With the Open Graph Protocol, all the content in the web, websites and the web pages are turned into the graph objects (if the concerned websites have decided to embrace Open Graph Protocol). What that means is that every time you go to a website or a web page and press the like button, you associate your profile with the graph object. The challenge with this approach for marketers is that it is creating a walled garden, which was one of AOL’s biggest downfalls.

Google’s open and transparent brand culture combined with the introduction of the +1 button will drive the kind of laser targeting marketers have been looking for with the Google platform beyond just targeting keywords. Gmail combined with +1 creates a social graph that is a tidal wave of dream data for marketers.

With +1 the search optimization game will drastically change because a site, blog, video, landing page, etc. will have search ranking impacted by collected +1s. Integrating the +1 everywhere in a brand’s marketing, and developing campaigns to drive your targeted audiences to “just +1 it” will be critical for driving this preferred brand position.

Open your eyes marketers. It’s time for a website audit to see where your +1s should go to be fully integrated throughout your digital media strategy. Bluetext can help you make these critical integrated marketing and communications decisions. Give us a shout if you need any assistance.

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